Offshore northern shrimp fishermen won't be compensated for quota cut

The federal fisheries minister says offshore shrimp fishermen in Nova Scotia and New Brunswick will not be compensated for the reduction in their quota for catches off the coast of Newfoundland and Labrador.

Dominic LeBlanc told reporters in Dartmouth on Thursday he stands by his decision to reduce the catch for the offshore fleet by 53 per cent in favour of a bigger share for the inshore fleet in Newfoundland.

The overall available catch has been reduced.

"Frankly, I don't want to pretend that the government is about to compensate these fleets because we believe that this is still a viable fishery for both the offshore fleet and the inshore fleet," he said.

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Science points to 'tough years'

LeBlanc said the government is sending a signal to the inshore fleet in Newfoundland and Labrador and the offshore fleet in New Brunswick and Nova Scotia that "there are tough years ahead," based on scientific advice, and so people should make decisions based on that advice.

Earlier this month, LeBlanc ended the standing practice known as LIFO, which stands for "last in, first out."

The LIFO policy was put in place when Ottawa allowed Newfoundland's inshore fleet into the fishery in the late 1990s, and it meant the last boats to get licences were the first to lose their quota when the quotas were cut.

Times have changed

That policy served everyone very well for the last 20 years, said LeBlanc, but times have changed.

"The economic return on this resource has been massive, and that's a good thing. But at a time when the resource is in a decline and we're restricting the quota, I did not think it was fair or reasonable to exclude or to disproportionately affect one particular sector," which is also economically dependent on the sector, he said.

LeBlanc said the decision was based on scientific advice that said in certain areas, fishable shrimp stocks had declined by 41 per cent from 2014 to 2015.

He said he also wanted to make it clear that for his government, one of the guiding principles in allocating a public resource "will be to benefit economically the greatest number of people."

"It shouldn't have surprised anybody after the panel report that our government thought that a proportionate sharing of what is a reduced quota was the responsible decision to make both economically, but also in terms of conservation," LeBlanc told reporters.

While he's aware fishermen in Nova Scotia are unhappy with the decision, LeBlanc said the Atlantic fishery continues to flourish in general and Ottawa would work to ensure that remains the case.

"This is one stock, one fleet, and it has been, frankly, over the last number of years, very lucrative."